Inner Dimension Parasha Teaching  

 

B'ah'alot'cha

Numbers 8:1--12:16

1st Aliya

8:1--8:14

2nd Aliya

8:15--8:26

3rd Aliya

9:1--9:14

4th Aliya

9:15--10:10

5th Aliya

10:11--10:34

6th Aliya

10:35--11:29

7th Aliya

11:30--12:16

Haftarah

Zechariah 2:14--4:7

 

Glossary of Names

Aharon--Aaron

 

aliyah--go up (to read)

 

Avihu--Abihu

 

Aviram--Abiram

 

BaMidbar--in the Wilderness

 

BCE--Before the Common Era.

 

challah--a loaf

 

C'na'an--Canaan

 

El'azar--Eleazar

 

Elitsafan--Eliasaph

 

Halachah--Hebrew Law

 

haL'vi'im--the Levites

 

Hoshea--Hosea

 

Itamar--Ithamar

 

Iyar--second month in the Hebrew calendar

 

Kalev--Caleb

 

Pesach--Passover

 

Ruach haKodesh--Holy Spirit

 

Z'charyah--Zechariah

 


BaMidbar (Numbers) 8:1

1st Aliyah

HaShem spoke to Moshe saying, "Speak to Aharon and say to him: When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall the seven lamps illuminate the menorah."
The Torah teaches us that Aharon was deeply distressed when he saw the eleven tribes, plus, Ephraim, had brought offerings, but HaShem had not instructed the tribe of Levi to do the same.  Aharon began to blame himself for the lack of a sacrifice-offering through the Levi tribe because of the Golden Calf tragedy.  HaShem immediately spoke to Moshe saying, "Tell your brother, Aharon, that his service in the Tabernacle will a greater and more demanding duty than offering sacrifices.  It will be his duty, plus, generation to generation, to maintain and keep the Menorah lamps lit for eternity."

BaMidbar (Numbers) 8:15

2nd Aliyah

After you have purified them and designated them as a wave offering, the Levites shall come to perform the service in the Tent of Meeting.

The Torah teaches us that three times the words, "and designate them as a wave offering," corresponding to the three family branches of Levites, namely, the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites.  Aharon will perform the waving ritual by taking hold of each, 22,000, Levite and shake him as one shakes the lulav (palm branch) on the feast of Tabernacles.  Just as the offering is sacrificed in lieu of man bringing it, so did the Levites take the place of the Israelites.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 9:1

3rd Aliyah

HaShem spoke to Moshe, in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the second year from their exodus from the land of Mitzrayim, in the first month, saying: "The Children of Yisra'el shall make the pesach-offering in its appointed time."

The Torah teaches us that this was the only pesach-offering in all forty years of their sojourn in the desert on which the Yisra'elites brought the offering.  The Sages tell us it was necessary for HaShem to command them again "in the second year," otherwise it might have been thought that this commandment of the Korban Pesach was meant to take effect  only upon their entry into the Land of Isra'el, but not while they remained in the desert.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 9:15

4th Aliyah

On the day that the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covering the Tabernacle, the Tent of Testimony; then, in the evening, there was something that appeared to be like fire on the Tabernacle.

The Torah teaches us that by means of this cloud the Children of Yisra'el were shown when to set up camp and when to journey. Thus, when the cloud remained stationary, they were to remain encamped; and when the cloud moved off, they were to travel.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 10:11

5th Aliyah

In the second year, away from Mitzrayim, on the 20th of the second month, the cloud rose from the Tabernacle of Testimony.  The Children of Yisra'el thus began their travels from the Wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud came to rest in the Paran Desert.

The Torah teaches us that it was time for the Children of Yisra'el to journey from Mount Sinai. It was the first time they broke camp since coming to the Wilderness of Sinai.  Their duration in the Wilderness of Sinai was twelve months minus ten days, since they had encamped there on the first day of the month Sivan, of the first year, and they were departing on the 20th of Iyar of the second year.

BaMidbar (Numbers) 10:35

6th Aliyah

When the Ark would journey, Moshe said, "Arise, HaShem, and let Your foes be scattered, let those who hate You flee from before You." And when it rested, he would say, "Reside tranquility, O, HaShem, among the myriad of Yisra'el's thousands."

The Torah teaches us that when Moshe spoke; "Arise so that the enemy who venture out against us will be scattered before You, and those who come to oppress us out o hatred for You, will flee from Your presence."  On the other hand, when setting up camp Moshe would call out, "Rest You presence upon the myriads of Yisra'el's thousands, and let not Your Shechinah depart from them. Bless them and multiply them into the thousands and tens of thousands."

BaMidbar (Numbers) 11:30

7th Aliyah

Moshe then returned to the camp along with the elders of Yisra'el. HaShem caused a wind to start blowing, sweeping Quail up from the sea. They ran out of strength over the camp, and were flying only two cubits above the ground for the distance of a day's journey in each direction.

The Torah teaches us that Moshe and the elders were at he Tent of Meeting, and HaShem waited until they returned to their own tent before inflicting upon the Yisra'elites the punishment that He had set for them.  As soon as they entered their tents, a divinely induced wind transported the quail from the sea and deposited them upon the camp over a distance extending one day journey in all directions, and to a depth above ground two cubits. Thus a person standing up could take some just by extending their hand.  HaShem even spared them the exertion of having to bend down to the ground.

Return to Top